songwriting | Stowaway Travel Writing & Editorial Services

I’ve written about the singing and songwriting talents of Emily before, but here’s some more. Clearly I’m a big fan, and anyone who has heard Em sing has heard one of the strongest voices out there. It’s Em’s birthday week, so send well wishes in the comments, won’t you? Thanks for sharing, Em!

What is your name and city of residence?
Emily Findley, Brooklyn, NY

What medium do you work in?
Music

How often do you work on your art–is it a full-time endeavor or something you work on in your spare time?
Most definitely part-time/spare time. When the mood strikes me, MAYBE once a week?

How does art fit into your life, in general? Is it something you think about and talk about every day, or every week, or only in certain situations, etc.?
Music is what I know at my core, what I think I am best at, and what I would like to spend my time “doing.” Rather than going everywhere and doing everything, I am quite content to be sitting (or moving!) and listening to melodies and harmonies that inspire me.

When you start on a piece, what kind of end result do you have in mind? Does it get performed or published, put in a permanent form or is it more temporary?
All of the above! Sometimes it’s just one chord progression with a tune or sometimes it’s an entire song. Sometimes I sing it just for myself or sometimes I get up on stage.

What goals do you set in relation to your art, both short- and long-term? Is it something you hope to make money doing, or is it something you want to keep uncommercialized? Does the term “sell-out” hold meaning for you or do you see the art/commerce relationship as a necessary one?
If I could be the next American Idol without the glitter, I would be! Just kidding. If I could be a “known” singer/songwriter, that would be amazing. Or maybe, if I could just open for the bands that I love, THAT would be a dream. If I could actually make money from singing, well, wouldn’t that be fly!

What role does collaboration with others play in your art, if any?
I’ve spent a long time looking for “the one” person to sing with. When Lizzie and I sing together, I feel like I have found that person. I also love it when I get up in front of a room full of people and everyone sings along. I also welcome edits and collaboration on what I’ve written, which is what a lot of my family members (ahem, Lisa) have given me.

How conscious are you of your artistic influences? Who are your artistic influences?
I tend to write from someone else’s bravery. When I hear what someone else has done, I know that I can do it, too. Indigo Girls, Girlyman, Motown, girl groups, tight harmonies, my family members.

Since this is a travel blog, how does travel relate to or affect your art? (Themes in what you produce, road trips to perform your music, thoughts on what happens to your painting when you ship it across the country to a customer, etc.)
Music can go wherever you go. I hope that my music follows me. Or rather than following me, I hope that I make the conscious effort to bring it with me, to perform in new places or just to experience my music in different places because that brings me a new experience of what I have created.

And finally, a right-brain question: If your art was a map, what would it be a map of?
The heart.

Just kidding! Well, not really. But maybe bicycle and paths?

If you’d like, share your website/Facebook page and any upcoming gigs/plans you’d like readers to know about.
Music has, unfortunately, been a low priority for me for far too long. For me, it has felt like a lot of other life things have gotten in the way. But in my center I know that it’s always the biggest part of me so even though I’m not writing or performing, I know that, and that makes me feel ok.

Dearest fellow travelers, you know I like to keep you apprised of good tunes. This here is another installment of Music You Might Very Well Enjoy, and it has the added benefit of being made by someone near and dear to me — my sister. My entire family is talented in many ways, and as I’ve mentioned before, we’re all musical. But today, let’s focus on Emily, the songwriter and performer among us. Dad taught Emily the guitar when she was in eighth grade, and only one year later, she’d written her first hit, “Whoever Said.” She’s been writing songs ever since, and performs at open mics and the like in whatever town she happens to live in, be it Ann Arbor, Avignon, or New York City.

I’m sure that writers of every kind get tired of being asked where they get their ideas, what they think about when they’re writing, and what their process is. The answers even remain mostly the same — ideas come from a small seed somewhere and get under the writer’s skin, the writer has to give over to what wants to be written when they’re sitting down with paper and pen, and they have a pretty good sense of when it’s working. But the variations on that theme are still interesting, and if you’re a writer yourself, often informative.

I asked Emily to write a bit about how she writes the wonderful songs she writes. I’ve included videos of some of my favorite tunes — “Release Me,” “For You,” and “A Story.” As she says, they’re all love songs, and they’re all ones you’ll want to listen to again and again. Enjoy!

“Songs — I like writing ’em and I like singing ’em. I write the song that gets stuck in yer head; the one to which each person in the audience can relate. My favorite kind of song is the one that makes your mom (or dad!) cry but it’s written right for you and your heart. I like to write love songs — the love that grows, the love that changes, the love that ends.

“I’m no poet like Bob Dylan or Carole King but I write what I know and I write from experience. So there isn’t a single song in my repertoire that doesn’t make me think of a person or an event or a potential or something like that. I guess each song is its own story for my bag of memories. Which is nice, as I have the worst memory in history so if I have something written down with a tune, I can carry that with me always.

“My songs are written in both ways — with words first or with music first, it really just depends. Sometimes it depends on the challenge I’m setting for myself… whether I need to fit a certain chord progression in or rhythm… whether I’m trying out a new trick with finger picking or not. Then I lace words into the music and figure out the song from there. Other times I get a line (usually something cheesy) stuck in my head that runs in a loop until I finally get other lines to go with it. Once that’s secured that’s when I’ll get out the guitar and see what fits with it. Sometimes the melody I start with becomes the song’s chorus or bridge or it’s thrown out altogether for something completely different and that is so exciting.”

ETA: I can’t believe I didn’t get into this earlier, but watch the videos, because as good as Emily’s songs are (and they are good), they are transcendent when she sings them. Her voice is strong and beautiful, and although she prefers harmonizing over singing the melody in just about everything she sings, she sticks to the main tune in these videos.